Mortality and Grace

How wonderful it is to see school uniforms on our main campus once again! This week our 9th grade and senior classes were busy in their classrooms, catching up on what was lost through the mostly absent school year. Like students throughout Haiti, these will be going to national exams, despite missing most of the year. They, their teachers, and their families have their work cut out for them. Would you add your passion to theirs by holding them up in prayer? Thank you!

To say these students were thrilled to take jars of peanut butter home with them this week would be an understatement. We are so grateful to all of you who continue to share those jars of protein with us, so we can share them with others.

This week we held our first mobile clinic since the pandemic closed the country down 5 months ago. There are just so many needs - physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Because of your generosity, we were able to treat many who were ill and distribute Haiti's staple foods to them - rice and beans.

Of course our full time medical and dental clinics have been open for our students and neighbors, too.

As I'm writing this post, tropical storm Laura is upon us. I'm praying that people all make it through this well. Personally, I am enjoying the wind and cool air. It's been unbelievably hot since we got back to Haiti. Northern Haiti has been in a terrible drought and need rain... I'm getting reports of severe flooding. Please pray with us!

Lex and I are so grateful for each of you who prays for us and the work here in Haiti, as well as all of you who make sacrifices to support the work here. Thank you so much!!!

I have had much opportunity this week to really look mortality in the face. Lex's mom's funeral brought to light in me the impact she had on her children and consequently all those whose lives have been touched through Mission of Hope International. She was a very hard working woman, who gave her all for her children. She taught them by the example of her own life to work hard, be kind, and do good to others.

I've been thinking of our long time friend and faithful supporters, Sonny & Judy, who were cut down by the COVID-19 virus. Judy is recovering, but Sonny has gone on to glory. I think of the impact he had on my life as a young Christian. He always had a kind word to share, a smile, a laugh, and God's word. Although they never came to MOHI physically, they touched so many lives by investing faithfully in the work being done here in Haiti.

Our dear sister, friend, and missionary to India, Heidi left this world from the country she loved to serve and the people she was passionately in love with. Even in her death, she was ministering love and life to the people who knew her. In a place where people are persecuted for preaching the Gospel, her very life sang out so strongly to the glory of our God.

I just learned of Turner's passing at the end of last month. He came to Haiti to serve with his dad here at MOHI several years ago. The same age as my own daughter, he touched so many with God's love throughout his life. People recognized he was different and it was because of his love for Christ and his gratitude for the gift of life he'd received from Christ.

In my natural mind, I can't help but think that his life was cut short. Obviously it was too short for OUR liking, but was it really too short? Or has the Lord created each of us uniquely and placed us in this world at the exact moment of HIS choosing? Is my life my own? Or have I been bought with a price? Should I live for my own, natural desires? Or should I lay it all down for the sake of the Gospel - should I not live for the sake of others?

Each of these mortal lives that I have referenced have impacted others with the love of God. They've allowed Christ to use them over and over again to touch others with a love beyond human capacity to understand. If I just live for myself, I lose it all in the end. But if I lay down my life, take up my cross, follow Christ - my life will continue to make waves long after I'm gone.